Toulouse had scored 106 points in their past two away trips, including a 46-0 whitewash of St Helens, but it was their turn to be scoreless on this occasion and they remain ninth after a 14th defeat of the campaign.

Ned McCormack was denied a sixth-minute score for Leeds in a stop-start opening when video referee Liam Rush spotted Chris Hankinson’s knock-on.

But the Rhinos had the lead after 12 minutes when Connor dummied and cut back inside to score following Lumb’s break.

Super League’s leading points scorer this season was involved again as he teed up Oledzki to power over from close range.

Without injured playmaker Olly Ashall-Bott and fielding six academy graduates, Toulouse could not capitalise on good positions, with Tiaki Chan’s surge halted five metres short after Luke Polselli’s brilliant one-handed offload.

And Leeds pulled further clear when Presley Cassell’s fine offload gave Holroyd a simple finish under the posts.

The hosts began the second half with more intent and within minutes, quick ball through the hands saw Croft send in McDonnell for his fifth try in three games.

Holroyd was held up over the line, while last-ditch defence denied Jarrod O’Connor and Lumb as Toulouse, to their credit, continued to fight.

But the incessant pressure told when Newman, playing just his third game on the wing in place of the injured Maika Sivo, went in at the right corner.

Connor, the 2025 Man of Steel, leapt high to grab Lachlan Miller’s pinpoint kick under the posts and register his second score.

With the game long since won, Leeds rang the changes but still pressed for more.

Croft sniped through a gap for his 24th Super League try of the season, and Lumb finished in the left corner, before Connor’s touchline conversion typified a clinical all-round display from the leaders.

Leeds: Miller; Lumb, McCormack, Bird, Newman; Croft, Connor; Oledzki, O’Connor, Jenkins, Hankinson, McDonnell, Watkins.

Interchanges: Smith, Lloyd, Cassell, Holroyd.

Toulouse: Polselli; Laguerre, Tropis, Quai-Ward, Ulberg; Collin, Rouge; Butler, Marion, Belmas, O’Kane, Jassaume, Cator.

Interchanges: Garrigues, Chan, Toleafoa, Wallace.

Referee: Tara Jones.

Remember tight end Gavin Bartholomew? The Pittsburgh alumnus got snagged in the 6th Round of the 2025 NFL Draft but spent his entire rookie season in the infirmary due to injury.

Healthy at last, Bartholomew is making a positive impression.

Consider the update on the Vikings young fella courtesy of Alec Lewis of The Athletic: “Semi-random Vikings camp takeaway, but I thought TE Gavin Bartholomew looked really good. Made two impressive over the middle catches. Moved well. First time really seeing him out there after back injury happened last year.”

Vikings Young Fella Shines Early

Since August hasn’t yet arrived, all of the fringe roster players have a long way to go before fully securing a job. Bartholomew isn’t going to be any different, but there’s something to be said for starting strong.

Last year, Minnesota leaned on TE1 T.J. Hockenson and TE2 Josh Oliver for hearty workloads. Most of the time, the TE3 was Ben Yurosek, the UDFA tight end with great hustle as a blocker. There was then a turn toward Nick Vannett and Ben Sims when there was a desire for more help. C.J. Ham wasn’t a fullback but he was a rugged guy who could do dirty work when there was a desire for some added meanness.

As things stand, the TE hierarchy could look as follows:

• TE1 T.J. Hockenson
• TE2 Josh Oliver
• TE3/4 Ben Yurosek
• TE3/4 Gavin Bartholomew
• TE5 Bryson Nesbit
• TE6 Marshall Lang

Complicating matters is the presence of rookie fullback Max Bredeson. He looks like a nice piece of the puzzle since he got moved around so much at Michigan. In fact, the folks at PFF graded him as a tight end since he earned so many snaps in that spot. Do the Vikings opt for a similar strategy? If so, then that muddies the water a bit for the depth tight ends.

Check out what Lance Zierlein had to say in his pre-draft scouting report: “Tight end prospect with a broad upper body, muscular arms and adequate demeanor to block. Bartholomew will primarily function as an in-line tight end but can be set in action as a move blocker when needed. He’s unspectacular as an athlete with soft hands and an average catch radius. His block aggression is admirable, but Bartholomew will need to get stronger and improve his block sustain to make a roster.”

Losing a season is far from ideal. What would nevertheless be encouraging is if Gavin Bartholomew found a way to begin addressing the shortcomings in his game.

At minimum, the sophomore should be coming back with a good understanding of the scheme. Spending a season focusing on the mental component of things has the potential of allowing him to play fast since he had so much runway to digest the vocabulary, grind film, and so on. Plus, he’s been able to sit back and watch a pair of great vets in Hockenson and Oliver go to work.

Next up for him is going to be ability to do the little things well. Being a monster on specials would be a nice boost, especially if he’s capable of both blocking and tackling. Matt Daniels could then insert the good-sized Vikings young fella with regularity.

Meanwhile, Kevin O’Connell will want somebody who competes like a madman when it comes time to block. Doing so will keep the defense honest since it has to respect a tight end who can bully linebackers and/or defensive backs in the ground game.

And, to be sure, there’s room for catching a pass or two. Nobody expects the kid to be Steve Jordan. If he is, then that’s a nice bonus but something that could only be proven over several years. The focus for the present moment rests in doing the little things well.

Gavin Bartholomew, 23, stands at 6’5″ and weighs 250 pounds. He was a teammate of Jordan Addison in university.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

• Alex Eala eyes another victory over No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina, this time at the 2026 Mubadala DC Open quarterfinals.

Mubadala DC Open schedule

August 1, Saturday

• 6:30am (PH time) – Alex Eala vs Elina Svitolina

LIVE UPDATES: Alex Eala vs Elina Svitolina – 2026 Mubadala DC Open quarterfinals

Friday Night Lights ✨

Tomorrow’s night session is absolute 🔥 #MubadalaDCOpen pic.twitter.com/2u3AAELgI9

— Mubadala DC Open (@mubadaladcopen) July 31, 2026

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Legendary Garry Kasparov once described India’s young chess stars as “Vishy’s children on the loose.” Today, that phenomenon extends well beyond India’s borders. When the 112th British Chess Championships begin in Coventry on Saturday, one of the leading contenders will be 11-year-old WIM Bodhana Sivanandan. Representing England, the daughter of Indian-origin parents starts the tournament as the favourite for the British Women’s Championship with several milestones within reach.

Bodhana has already broken age records at the event. At last year’s championships in Liverpool, she became the youngest girl to defeat a grandmaster. Earlier this year, she became the youngest girl to beat a grandmaster rated above 2600, adding another landmark to a career that has advanced rapidly over the past two seasons.

Coventry offers another opportunity.

A strong performance would earn Bodhana the final norm required for the Woman Grandmaster (WGM) title, making her the youngest British player to achieve it. She is also the favourite to win the British Women’s Championship. A victory here would make her the youngest champion in the event’s history, breaking a record that has stood since 1939.

She also has a chance to finish the week as Britain’s top-rated female player.

Bodhana begins the tournament with a FIDE rating of 2303, five points behind WGM Lan Yao, England’s highest-rated woman. A strong result over nine rounds could move her to the top of the national rankings.

Her progress has been marked by consistency as much as individual results. Rather than relying on a single breakthrough performance, she has continued to improve against stronger opposition and has added major milestones almost every season.

The Open championship will include several established grandmasters as well as another Indian-origin player, teenage GM Shreyas Royal, who is among the title contenders.

Even so, much of the attention in Coventry is expected to centre on Bodhana and the records she could break.

Her rise also reflects the growing influence of India’s chess culture beyond the country itself.

Although Bodhana represents England, she belongs to the generation that has emerged after Viswanathan Anand’s success and during the rise of world champion Gukesh Dommaraju.

India’s strength in junior chess has also had an impact in Britain, where players from Indian families have become a regular presence in national age-group competitions. That trend was evident at last year’s British Championships, with players of Indian origin featuring prominently across the junior sections.

If Bodhana wins the British Women’s title, she will become the youngest champion in the tournament’s history. It would add another record to a career that continues to develop at an unusually early age while highlighting the wider influence of India’s chess boom on the international game.

Featured Video Of The Day

Spain’s Royal Family Welcomes World Cup Champions To Zarzuela Palace

Europe’s football associations have voted to boycott the next World Cup following the announcement by FIFA to seek private investment for the tournament. FIFA is currently offering 40 million dollars to each country that backs its project. Associations across the world have said that they weren’t aware of any of the plans for the not-for-profit organisation to seek private investment.

Victor Montagliani (Concacaf president)

Like Infantino, he was elected in 2016 promising governance reform. A former president of Canada Soccer, as co-chair, Montagliani was heavily involved in the build up to, and delivery of the 2026 World Cup, the first to be hosted by three nations. He is fluent in French, Italian and Spanish, as well as English.

Explaining his decision to run for the Concacaf presidency, Montagliani told the BC Business website: “Like anything, when I decide to go, I go. I campaigned on my own dime for three months, went to see all 41 countries, from the US to Bonaire, a little island off Venezuela.”

Montagliani took the lead when Concacaf hosted an expanded Copa America in 2024 – in an interview with BBC Sport he rejected the idea it could become a regular occurrence. Politically strong, he smoothed relations around Arsene Wenger’s attempt to gain support for a World Cup every two years and has never truly bought into the idea of a 64-team World Cup.

At the Leaders conference in 2025, he outlined why he felt football was strong enough to ride out any storm.

“The game is bigger than world current leaders,” he said. “Football will survive regimes. Does it cause a headache? Of course. You have to be realistic about that. That is the beauty of our game, it is bigger than any individual and country.”

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa (AFC president)

Initially elected in 2013, he was elected unopposed for a fourth term to run to 2027.

The Bahraini has presided over significant growth within the Asian confederation, through the Champions League Elite, Champions League Two, the Challenge League and the Women’s Champions League, which was launched in 2024-25. The Asian Cup has been expanded to 24 teams.

Sheikh Salman signed off the brutal takedown of how Fifa is being run by Infantino and has carried with him a 46-member confederation, many of whom are aware the figures being offered by Infantino’s plan are huge in terms of their overall football expenditure.

Neeraj Chopra at CWG 2026 Free Live Telecast© Getty

ATHLETICS

2:35 p.m. – Men’s Decathlon 110m Hurdles – Tejaswin Shankar

3:20 p.m. – Men’s Decathlon Discus Throw – Tejaswin Shankar

4:05 p.m. – Mixed 4x400m Relay (Round 1, Heat 2) – Vishal TK, Rajesh Ramesh, Rashdeep Kaur, Ansa Babu, Neeru Pathak

5 p.m. – Men’s Decathlon Pole Vault – Tejaswin Shankar

11:30 p.m. – Men’s Decathlon Javelin Throw – Tejaswin Shankar

12:45 a.m. (August 1) – Men’s Javelin Throw Final (medal event) – Neeraj Chopra, Rohit Yadav, Yash Vir Singh

1:05 a.m. (August 1) – Men’s Decathlon 1500m (final event) – Tejaswin Shankar

1:30 a.m. (August 1) – Men’s 400m Hurdles Final (medal event) – Yashas Palaksha, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan

BOXING

3:15 p.m. – Women’s 54kg Semifinals – Preeti Pawar vs Catherine Mwape (Zambia)

4:30 p.m. – Men’s 80kg Semifinals – Ankush Panghal vs Joshua Ofori (Canada)

7:15 p.m. – Women’s 57kg Semifinals – Jaismine Lamboria vs Rapelang Maselela (Lesotho)

7:30 p.m. – Women’s 70kg Semifinals – Arundhati Choudhary vs Rosie Eccles (Wales)

8:15 p.m. – Men’s 55kg Semifinals – Jadumani Singh Mandengbam vs Philip Haoseb (Namibia)

11:30 p.m. – Women’s 51kg Semifinals – Sakshi Chaudhary vs Amber-Jane Wall (Canada)

12:15 a.m. (August 1) – Women’s 60kg Semifinals – Priya Ghanghas vs Lucy Kings-Wheatley (England)

12:45 a.m. (August 1) – Women’s 75kg Semifinals – Lovlina Borgohain vs Tarona Taafaki (Tuvalu)

1 a.m. (August 1) – Men’s 60kg Semifinals – Sachin Siwach vs Owain Harris-Allan (Wales)

1:30 a.m. (August 1) – Men’s 90kg Semifinals – Narender Berwal vs Nigel Paul (Trinidad and Tobago)

JUDO

3:30 p.m. onwards – Men’s -60kg, Round of 16 – Harsh Singh vs Chikondi Kathewera (Malawi)

3:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -52kg, Round of 16 – Shraddha Chopade vs Jane Massaquoi (Sierra Leone)

3:30 p.m. onwards – Men’s -66kg, Round of 16 – Rohit Majgul vs Samuel Ribeiro (Mozambique)

3:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -48kg, Quarterfinal – Asmita Dey vs Eva Ewing (Scotland)

3:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -57kg, Quarterfinal – Yamini Mourya vs TBD (to be decided)

8:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -48kg, Medal Rounds – Asmita Dey (subject to qualification)

8:30 p.m. onwards – Men’s -60kg, Medal Rounds – Harsh Singh (subject to qualification)

8:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -52kg, Medal Rounds – Shraddha Chopade (subject to qualification)

8:30 p.m. onwards – Men’s -66kg, Medal Rounds – Rohit Majgul (subject to qualification)

8:30 p.m. onwards – Women’s -57kg, Medal Rounds – Yamini Mourya (subject to qualification)

BOWLS

5:15 p.m. – Men’s Pairs Sectional Play, Section B Round 4 – India (Dinesh Kumar and Navneet Singh) vs Falkland Islands (Ian Barnes and Oliver Thompson)

10:20 p.m. – Women’s Singles Sectional Play, Section C Round 4 – Nayanmoni Saikia vs Mildred Mkandawire (Zambia)

TRACK CYCLING

5:21 p.m. – Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit, Qualification – Dinesh Kumar, Harshveer Singh Sekhon

8:30 p.m. – Men’s Keirin, First Round – Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam (Heat 1), David Beckham Elkatohchoongo (Heat 3), Jemsh Keithellakpam (Heat 4)

9:17 p.m. – Men’s Keirin, First Round Repechages – Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, Jemsh Keithellakpam (subject to qualification)

10:46 p.m. – Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit, Finals (Bronze) – Dinesh Kumar, Harshveer Singh Sekhon (subject to qualification)

10:53 p.m. – Men’s 4000m Individual Pursuit, Finals (Gold) – Dinesh Kumar, Harshveer Singh Sekhon (subject to qualification)

11:01 p.m. – Men’s Keirin, Second Round – Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, Jemsh Keithellakpam (subject to qualification)

11:43 p.m. – Men’s Keirin, Finals 7-12 – Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, Jemsh Keithellakpam (subject to qualification)

11:48 p.m. – Men’s Keirin, Finals 1-6 – Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, Jemsh Keithellakpam (subject to qualification)

11:53 p.m. – Men’s Elimination Race Final (medal event) – Harshveer Singh Sekhon

Neeraj Chopra provided a candid explanation on why he managed to throw just 79.61m in the javelin throw qualifying round:

“Conditions are not best for javelin throwers. Not only cold, but it’s really windy. The wind was also not in the front; sometimes it’s from the side. It’s really hard to process where we have to throw. Sometimes we think, ‘Okay, we’ll throw there’, but then the wind comes from the other side. And lots of throwers are struggling today. Nobody touched the automatic qualification mark. It was tough conditions, but we are happy that all three Indians are in the final.”